Windows Phone 7.8 features detailed by Microsoft Italy

Details of features included in Windows Phone 7.8 have been revealed on Facebook, according to a post by Microsoft Italy. While Microsoft has released Windows Phone 8, the company's next update for customers with legacy hardware is still on the horizon, and we're unsure what's included. So what has been mentioned by Microsoft Italy?

What we do know already is the new home screen will definitely be available for Windows Phone 7.x devices. More tiles available on the home screen with larger ones being able to be configured. A greater choice of accent colours will be implemented to provide more customisation opportunities for consumers. But that's pretty much it, officially anyway.

We don't believe the employee was in the right to reveal what was published, but we're sure glad it was put live on the social network (translated):

The upgrade to 7.8 will be available for versions 7.0 and 7.5 shortly after the marketing of the devices Windows Phone 8. Among the features there is the new Start screen, the sharing of the calendar using the function Club and access to key services and content Microsoft, including Xbox Music Store library that can be enjoyed by Zune and Xbox SmartGlass.

The above quote was posted in response to a question that was published on the Microsoft Facebook page. It was quickly removed, but before it was Plaffo managed to grab a screenshot.

The translation above mentions 'Club', which is believed to be the new Rooms functionality that's included in Windows Phone 8. As well as this, both Xbox Music and SmartGlass are both stated to be on the feature list for Windows Phone 7.8.

We'll be waiting for Microsoft to announce the next update for those with legacy hardware, but should these features be included in the release it will make for a more useful upgrade. This will keep heads held high with the requirement to purchase a new handset not being present for a few more features.

Reader comments

Windows Phone 7.8 features detailed by Microsoft Italy

@moe1dwn It maybe that customers are spoiled by upgrades, but MS have to compete. The standard is that phones get updated, usually to the latest version, for a least the term of a contract, which is 2 years standard.

MS have let there customers down. I don't really care because I think WP is the best, don't want to go back to android or ios.

But I have not recommend WP to anyone as I would have fell bad recommending something that may not be supported for long.

Time will tell though if WP7.8 delivers but the lack of info regarding the what 7.8 is and how it is gonna be supported in the future has not done MS any favours, I mean, are most apps gonna be 7.8 compatible, no assurances have been given.

Don't think MS care, they seem to be making a new start with 8, that's what there focused on.

Its been nice to have a wp for two years.
But my next phone will not be same as Jessica Alba phone.
Ignoring this os by developers its just too much for me. Viber is just text, no instagram, no hbogo, my oakley googles dont suport wp, no jamie oliver recepies etc.
As I said its been nice and shame that wp didnt keep up with android and ios couse in my opinion wp os is much better and relaible.
But so long wp you ve been beaten by stupidity and gliternes of ios and robot os.

So by this logic of buying a device and when a newer model comes out and it is better than the previous model, what else in life deserves an upgrade to keep consumers happy, cars? homes? WIVES?
I honestly think the tech society has been spoiled with the idea of upgrades. WP7 has been out for 3 years and will have received three upgrades in its lifespan. Even if you bought a Lumia 900 a day before the announcement, the cost on contract was a lot lower than when it was first released. Hell I think they are free on Amazon Wireless now.
Long story short and I assuming it was made 50 comments before mine; when you purchase a product, it is safe to assume that the product will work just as well as the day you purchased it. Upgrades are optional and really a courtesy from manufacturers...NOT A REQUIREMENT!

I bought my Lumia 900 in June for 500€. I thought I was buying the flagship mdoel of the OS with long term support, the latest and greatest software platofrm you can get. I thought wrong. The next day i was told MS will not be bothering about upgrading or even backporting compatible WP 8 improvements to the iPhone-priced a-few-days-before-having-entered-the-market brand new model, even though they developed WP 8 on it. They told me to f*ck off, since they had already gotten my money.

Of course, I won't be fooled by MS or Nokia again. I have been directing people towards Apple lately (Android is not much better than WP on support). I simply do not want my friends to ask me 3 months from now, why is not their uber-expensive Lumia or what not phone supported any more since WP 9 will be coming out in February. With Apple it will be, for 3 years at least.

People fail to understand that smartphone geeks are spoiled and like to get spoiled, I bought my 900 off contract for $300 and yes I was upset that I wouldn't get Apollo. To be honest I'll ride the 7.8 upgrade till next year because I am sure there will be a windows branded Apollo device, it will blow away all presented last week :-D

I really hope that the WP7.8 upgrade is feature heavy. I really don't want to buy a new phone, my HD7 can definitely last me another year, but if WP7.8 sucks then it'll kind of force my hand. Really wanted to wait till next gen tho...

Microsoft have never said that they not to upgrade WP7 because they didn't think OEMs would update either. OEMs update other platforms.

Some of the MS sucking up is laughable. I love WP, I understand there was technical reasons not to update. Fine. But WP7.8 should have all the features technically possible from WP8. If they don't do that they suck.

I know I'm gonna get loads of abuse for saying this but hey, its my opinion, and it is a valid opinion. You may disagree and that fine and valid as well. But for anyone who thinks that my opinion is not valid....you are one of the laughable people mentioned above.

Errr No. That's just the reality, porting Drivers is hard, and I'm pretty sure it isn't any easier with NT and CE. I don't think they should do everything, but just what is feasible. Ex: the Skype integration will absolutely destroy your battery on WP7. But yeah, 7.8 should be more than the new homescreen. I think it'll be more though because Microsoft said 7.8 will come after 8, so that probably means they've been putting it off...Also 7.8 supports OTA (I think.) Why would Microsoft include it if they were to never update it again?

Again, its been stated by Microsoft that it's possible to port 8 to 7 devices, but would require more money... I. Guess 7.8 with some extras from 8 (sounds like the Rooms feature might make it) is a bit more economical. Im happy we are getting 7.8, but a bit bitter that Microsoft themselves stated they could do it but didn't.

Microsoft has never stated that..."it would require more money" my ass. Please don't make things up. Microsoft CHOSE not to make WP7 phones upgradable because they didn't think OEMs would update the drivers for their WP7 phones, and they wanted to maintain a consistent level of performance in the new OS, which wouldn't be possible on 2010-era Snapdragon chips.

I only wish people would stop complaining! I upgraded to a Titan and my phone was "legacy" only just 3 months after if first released last November...when the Titan 2 came out. I went over to XDA - developed myself a beta 7.8 rom to my liking and installed that on my phone...I'm satisfied till the next release...whether it is another leak of 7.8 or the final build....hell I'm somewhat satisfied now with just the UI change.

I would be totally STOKED if it would just reliably capitalize the first letter when I start typing. Fuckin A. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. If it takes away ANY features currently present someone is going to get shot.

Don't u hate that when they kept saying "experience" and yet the simple things like that and the foward button on the browser or the return to the previous page's previous spot on the browser....all those are little things that chip away the "good experience".

Yes, it would be wonderful if they could fix those little annoyances (there are others, too). However, I still like WP and prefer it to the iPhone they gave me at work. That thing makes me furious to the point that I want to throw it against the wall and watch is smash into a million magical 18% thinner pieces.

Jeez, give me a break. Why do they owe you something extra? You've been using the phone for 2 years, you dont feel you've gotten your couple hundred bucks out of the phone? This is thinking is a symptom of today's f'd up society believes that someone owes them something. Get a grip, save some money, and buy a new phone and stop whining about pointless issues.

I got my 2 years worth, but other people who bought a lumia 900 in April certainly have not. It was barely two months later when they announced that the phone would be unable to upgrade to WP8.
How were they supposed to guess that MS would tell them that a 2 month old device (that they advertised the hell out of) would be forgotten about so soon.

It's not forgotten about. It's still getting a huge update, 7.8!
There are core changes to WP8 that make it very difficult to implement on first generation devices. But MS has already shown that most of the big noticable changes to the UI will be coming to WP7. So get over it. Even with just 7.8, its a damn good phone as is!

It wasn't forgotten, both Nokia and MS are still delivering updates for it. If WP8 is such a big deal for you then go and get a new phone. And if you hate WP7 that much, why the fudge did you buy a WP7 phone? Because it was advertised? You are just being ridiculous.

This!
Why did you buy the WP7 phone in the first place? Seem like it meet all your needs or you wouldn't have forked over your money. But now that you don't get all shiny W8 goodness all of a sudden your phone is inadequate?

If they couldn't live with the possibility, they should have waited a while longer. I mean, rumor and speculation went on for a bit. That alone is usually enough to have someone defer a buying decision. I understand what your saying in defense of those others, but really... Microsoft will be supporting them with an update and one that offers important elements of the new OS excepting perhaps those hardware dependent features. Until we see precisely which features those will be, I would wait on saying that they've been ignored or stiffed. At the very least, they have a phone that functions exceptionally well. We all want WP7.8 because we do, not because we were promised it when we bought our phones or before WP8 was announced for next gen devices. The argument that anyone should have been told to wait because something else is around the corner is, um, just silly.

I'm gonna call bull crap on this reasoning... The L900 was billed as a Flagship phone.... and for all intents and purposes it was. But as was pointed out... 2 months after the launch... they pulled the plug on it. Imagine for a second if you purchased an Xbox 720 in April of 2013... and after all your excitement and happiness... the NEWER BETTER XBOX 1080 Was announced in June... and would be available in October.... but don't worry... you're going to get the new Xbox 1080 splash screen on your device... but you won't be able to access games made for the newer Xbox. Development for Skyrim II is cut... and they deliver a half-assed title for the Xbox 720... to focus on the better spec'd and more functional 1080... Anger.
Such an issue may seem Silly to you... but this is the type of thing that hurts credibility.

This is silly reasoning...first of all lumia 900 works well current version plus 7.8 is nt just start screen there r many other features coming in..Ms is atleast not forgotten early adopters like other companies do...i would say fault here is of Nokia to launch 900 so late and their silly sales n marketting..cant believe they launched 900 in asia region in august..im big fan of nokia bt if they want to survive they should release worldwide n without any exclusive carriers...On apps part i would say tht we already have 125k apps in store plus Ms did right thing by delaying SDK so tht developers continue with 7.5 apps...it was smart move which i knw many developer hated like me bt i also own one 7.5 device so i understand..

Here we go again, more lies. Just tell them to keep their phone until they get the use they think they should have out of it, or, sell the phone to partially finance a new one. They ARE NOT letting these phones drop off line. How long do we have to listen to this stuff? for another 3 years are people going to be bitching about how Microsoft screwed them over for not supporting WP7.8 even though they will?

I bought an iPad 3 in July, and I'm not getting anything from Apple even though they just discontinued it out of the blue just six months after it's release. So at least Lumia 900 users are getting a software upgrade...

I bought in April, I am not a techie, and I was fully aware that WP8 was written with a different kernel. Even though I don't know what a kernel really is, it was obviously a major change. I was willing to lock in the have the WP experience now. Nokia supports the product & customer like no one else. Nobody owes me anything, so I refuse to cry like an emo-kid!

+1 to both to be honest. I deliberatly got my Nokia knowing full well that WP8 was being released the week after. Why? Because the Lumia 800 was being offered sim free sub £200 including delivery, I didn't want a contract (GiffGaff just too good) and I couldn't justify blowing £350+ on a new Nokia Lumia 820/920.
This way I figured I could enjoy WP and get used to it and then next summer sell on my Lumia 800 and use the £100-£150 raised to buy myself a new 820/920!
To be honest so far I'm loving WP7.5 and don't feel any special desire to rush to WP8. Only fear is that developers will blow WP7.5/8 out in their rush to get apps out for WP8 but thats the risk I take!
Oh and also offline maps although Google Maps on Android's "offline" tiles are absolutely abysmal and as useful as a marzipan dildo to be honest.

I agree 100% and glad to see someone else feels this way. Started thinking I was crazy. Why do people feel they have to be supported for a lifetime? Its not like a car where you get a 100,000 mile warranty lol

In your rush to judgment about how other people feel about their purchase and post-purchase satisfaction, you forget that this is about getting and retaining loyal customers. Perhaps you are fortunate enough in life to buy a new phone and then in a few months buy another at full retail just to stay current in a market. I'm used to a model going anywhere from 12-18 months, thus leaving people usually 1 year out of "current technology".

You are correct that Microsoft doesn't "owe" the people clamoring for updates anything, but you fail to see that this is a dual stream relationship - the customer doesn't owe Microsoft anything either. Not everything in life can be boiled down to your dinner table life lessons philosophy.

In my opinion, any of the updates that do not require new hardware or are reliant on the new kernel should be at least under consideration for the update. Not because it is "owed" or because people feel like their phones won't work anymore. Microsoft should do it to keep the early adopting evangelists happy. They should do it so that there are more and more people out there using the feature set that competes with iOS and Android in a way that is favorable to the platform. No one should have a 4-6 month old phone that can do nothing that is advertised. That's not smart business. Microsoft kind of owes it to Microsoft and its investors to look at this with more savvy than you are looking at it.

You seem to know a whole lot about what could and couldn't be provided, perhaps you should talk with Microsoft on your genius solution that would allow all these phones to get these features that you think they are withholding. If you're into phones enough that this bothers you, I'm pretty sure that it came to no surprise that there was a change coming and the word was that older phones wouldn't support that change. Why do I get the feeling it's like five people that really feel this way and a bunch of other people who feel sorry for them.

I've been in the same situation, but with much more at stake, and I don't bitch about it. Remember when the government gave low interest loans for new home-buyers? I did it, got the five thousand dollars and have been paying it off the top of my taxes ever since. And remember the next year, when they offered seven thousand dollars, and you didn't have to pay it back? Do I feel that the government OWE's me? No, because I got the deal I signed up for, was I a little upset with myself that I didn't wait a year before I bought a house, yes.

So, be upset with yourselves for not investigating a new purchase more in-depth. As of now I have a Quantum that I've had (well, the second one, just got it a few months ago) from day 1, I don't feel ripped off, actually, I'm still quite happy with the phone and will continue to use it until a phone comes out that I think is worth the upgrade. I personally don't think that the new HTC and Lumia phones are all that super awesome, other than they have WP8. So, I'm happy to wait, listen to people brag about their new phones, and then listen to the same people bitch about the gen2 WP8 phones coming out and that they should be compensated for buying the first generation, all over again.

I and some people I knew went through the new home-buyers loan the same as you and you are in the minority. Every one I knew including me where PISSED and we fought to get the same deal others did. I did (and still do) feel like the Gov did owe something to people like us, at the very least a discount if you got it within a certain time frame (like some of us have proposed MS do with Lumia 900's and Titan II's).

It angers me that people like you generalize and say "you should have waited" or "investigated the purchase". Sure there are a bunch of people who could have volunterily waited, but there are a lot more people who phone's are on the fritz (my Quantum could not have made it to now) or bought into the Lumia hype (remember, this was THE Hero phone) and got it for $0.01 from amazon or even some techies who saw reports that WP8 was running on current gen devices (with picture proof!). In April there was NOTHING to investigate, just a lot of speculation and rumors. We still barely knew what Apollo really was so what was there to go in-depth on?!?

You sound like the type of person to just bend over and accept whatever is given while I'm the type to fight against what I and a lot of others percieve to be a bit of unfair & planned obsolence.

It's not bending over and taking anything, I got what I signed up for. You're the kind of person that signs up for something and then when the rules change later want something you DIDN'T sign up for, for free, that ANGERS me as well. It's always someone elses fault we're having problems, I prefer to take responsibility for my own actions and not blame others for the results of the actions that I take, I live a much less PISSED OFF life.
How did that fight with the federal government go on getting 'a fair deal' go? Just wait until you want a fair deal for health care...yeah...right...

I doubt you'll see any lock screen updates since, under WP7.x, no app can take advantage of it; the Windows Phone 7 framework simply doesn't support it.

Also, I doubt that there will be a peoples hub update with rooms as stated in the article. This rather reads like a mistranslation since "club" is mentioned with "calendar".

Basically, you'll be able to resize your tiles - don't get your hopes up and expect much more! In the beginning, I was at least hoping that XBOX Music would make it into WP 7.8 but MS decided to run 2 different kind of services, XBOX Music for anything with an "8" in there and Zune for WP7.x ... - you wonder why since this is really just an app that could easily be upgraded.